Layout Tools

Rulers:





Folding rulers have been used for years especially in carpentry. Tape measure is the more common ruler used now mainly for convenience, certainly questions of accuracy are one of the issues with today's tape measure. Bench Ruler, a metal flat ruler one foot in length and accurate to at least 1/32 of an inch. This bench ruler is usually considered the workhorse for the workbench. This ruler has clear markings and is usually a non reflective surface. It is about one inch wide and about 1/32 inch thick and slightly flexible.


Determine Square:



Framing square, why is the length and width different (we will get to that). Try Square or Tri Square is a metal and or wood tool used for marking and measuring a piece of wood. The square refers to the tool's primary use of measuring the accuracy of a right Angle (90 degrees); to try a surface is to check its straightness or correspondence to an adjoining surface. A piece is of wood that is rectangular, flat and has all edges (face, sides, and ends) 90 degrees is called four square. A board is often milled four square in preparation for using it tin building furniture.




Squaring a piece of wood: Seven Steps

• Step One: Crosscut to length plus 1 inch
• Step Two: Joint one face of the wood, this will be the reference side for planning to thickness
• Step Three: Surface or plane to thickness in our project this will be 3/4 inch
• Step Four: Joint one edge, the cleanest edge will be the easiest
• Step Five: Wood is now table saw worthy, jointed edge against the fence, rip to width
• Step Six: Square one end with a cross cut leaving some length to cross cut for final length
• Step Seven: Cross cut to length.

We will perform this procedure on all of our wood for class project.

Calipers: The tools you need when close isn't good enough.

Given that wood shrinks and and swells, most woodworkers regard 1/16 of an inch's an acceptable tolerance. So why would you need a device capable of measuring to .001 inch? Prat of the answer lies simply in the desire to fit projects together without gaps or misalignment. For example if you are working with two pieces of wood with 1/16" the total off could be 1/8. In order to get tolerance of 1/16" each piece would have to be within 1/32 of an inch. This fraction is equal to about 31 thousands of an inch. (.031). Vernier Caliper, named after a French Mathematician who devised the vernier scale. More comm om is the Dial Caliper, with this one a dial indicator provides a direct reading of subdivisions, making it easy to read. Finally a Digital Caliper show the exact measurement on a calculator-style digital readout. Though expensive it is the easiest to read.

Combination Square: A perfect name for a near-perfect tool

Use it as a depth gauge. Use it as a marking gauge. Use a Combination Square to calibrate your table saw or set up your Router. One thing we learned today is that you usually get what you pay for. If the combination square is not square it is worthless. Getting a good deal is OK but a well made square may well be worth the money.